Tube inserter



22, 1967 r F. c. LA JEUNESSE 3,336,651

TUBE INSERTER FiledJuIy 12, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FILE--2- INVENTOR. FRANCIS C. LAJEUNESSE BY Wad-W I ATTOKNE V5 Aug. 22, 1967 F. LA JEUNESSE TUBE I NSERTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 12, 1965 INVENTOR. FRANCIS C LAJEUN5$ ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,336,651 TUBE INSERTER Francis C. La Jeunesse, 3713 Vancouver Way, Concord, Calif. 94520 Filed July 12, 1965, Ser. No. 471,128 4 Claims. (Cl. 29-237) This invention relates to safety appliances and more particularly to apparatus for inserting glass tubes and thermometers into laboratory stoppers and the like.

Any person who has worked in a laboratory for any appreciable period of time has experienced or seen a person being severely injured when a glass tube or thermometer has broken while it is being inserted into a stopper. Some devices have been designed for inserting glass tubes into stoppers to avoid these injuries, and three devices of this type are shown in the following United States Patents: Fairbairn 2,510,878; Vreeland 2,551,642; and Wokeck 3,119,174. However, none of these devices has been sutliciently satisfactory from the standpoint of cost and operating efiiciency to have achieved any substantial amount of use.

In accordance with this invention, I have provided a device for inserting glass tubes and the like into stoppers which may be manufactured relatively economically and which may be used more efficiently than any of the devices known heretofore.

The apparatus of this invention is illustrated in the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus illustrating in phantom outline the condition of the apparatus in which it is swung open for insertion or removal of a glass tube and stopper;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 taken along the plane indicated at 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 2 differing from FIG. 2 in that the stopper illustrated in FIG. 2 contains a plurality of tubes;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 3 taken along the plane indicated at 44 in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a removable component of the apparatus of FIG. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1, the device illustrated therein includes a frame having a pedestal 12 thereon and a tube holder generally indicated at 14 mounted for reciprocal movement to--- ward and away from the pedestal 12.

The tube holder 14 includes a base portion 16 and an arm portion 18 which is pivotally mounted on the base portion 16 by a pivot pin 20. The arm 18 swings between the full line position illustrated in FIG. 1 and the phantom line position to permit a tube to be inserted or removed from the apparatus laterally thereof. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the body 16 and arm 18 have complementary semi-cylindrical depressions 20 and 22 respectively in which are mounted semi-cylindrical sleeves 24 and 26. A body of rubber 28 is vulcanized into the interior of each of the sleeve sections 24 and 26 and is provided with a plurality of circumferenti-ally extending ribs 30 which grip the exterior surface of a tube which is held by the tube holder. The recesses 20 and 22 and the rubber covered sleeves 24 define a central passageway in the tube holder in which a glass tube 32 is held when the arm 18 is rotated to its closed position.

The opposite sides of the body 16 are bored to receive a pair of guide rods 34 and 36, and the guide rods 34 and 36 are slidably mounted in pedestals 38 on the frame 10 with the axes of the rods 34 and 36 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the center passageway in the tube holder so that the tube holder moves toward and away from the pedestal 12 along a direction parallel to the axis of the passageway in the tube holder.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rods 34 and 36 are preferably encircled by rubber O-rings 40 and 42 which hold the tube holder 14 on the rods 34 and 36 and limit the forward travel of the rods toward the pedestal 12.

The pedestal 12 is provided with a center opening 44 surrounding the axis of the passageway in the tube holder and a supporting seat 46 facing toward the tube holder and adapted to support a stopper or cork as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 while a tube or thermometer is inserted in the stopper. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opening 44 is generally U-shaped so that after a tube has been inserted in a stopper and the arm 18 is swung to its open position, the tube and stopper may be lifted upwardly out of the apparatus.

A transparent shield 48 is mounted on top of the arm 18 and projects from the arm 18 toward the pedestal 12 to deflect pieces of flying glass if a tube or thermometer should break while it is being inserted into a stopper.

The apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 is used by opening the arm 18 to the phantom line position and placing a tube in the position illustrated in FIG. 1 and then closing the arm 18 to the position illustrated in full line in FIG. 1 to grip the tube in the passageway in the tube holder 14. A stopper indicated generally at 50 is then placed between the front end of the tube andthe seat 46 with a hole in the stopper aligned with the tube, and the operator then advances the tube holder 14 toward the pedestal 12 while grasping the outwardly projecting handle portion '52 of the arm 18 and a corresponding handle portion 54 on the body 16. If it is desirable to insert the tube through the stopper by a substantial distance, the tube holder may be advanced to a point where it engages the stopper, and the arm 18 may be raised to release the tube and reciprocate the tube holder back to its initial position for another stroke. The frame 10 of the apparatus is preferably rigidly supported on a work bench for this operation, and for this purpose a clamp 56 may be integrally formed with one end of the frame for clamping the frame onto a work bench.

The apparatus of this invention for inserting tubes into stoppers may be used with tubes of different diameter, and for this purpose a plurality of different sleeves 24 and 26 are provided for insertion into the body 16 and arm 18 with the different sleeves having different diameter interior passageways for gripping different diameter tubes. Additionally, a removable adaptor 58 illustrated in FIG. 5 is provided in the opening 44 of the pedestal 12, and as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, the adaptor 58 is provided with a hook portion 60 which hooks onto a flange on the forward edge of the pedestal 12. The adaptor reduces the size of the passageway 44 to adapt the passageway for smaller sized tubes and is provided with a flange 64 on one end which increases the size of the supporting seat 46 so that the seat 46 supports a stopper closely adjacent to the hole in the stopper when small diameter tubes are used.

While one specific embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described in detail herein, it is obvious that many modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for inserting glass tubes into stoppers which comprises:

(A) a frame having a pedestal thereon,

(B) a tube holder having (1) a body portion and (2) an arm portion swingably mounted on said body portion (3) with said arm and body portions having corresponding depressions therein which, in one pivotal position of said arm portion, define an elongated tube gripping passageway in said tube holder (C) support and guide means including guide ways parallel to said passageway for supporting said body portion of said tube holder on said frame and guiding said body portion along a straight path toward said pedestal and parallel to said passageway,

(D) an opening in said pedestal along the axis of said passageway, and

(E) a support seat on said pedestal facing toward said tube holder for supporting a stopper on said pedestal with a hole in said stopper surrounding the axis of said passageway,

(F) said arm portion of said tube holder being pivotally mounted on said body portion at a pivot axis which is laterally spaced from said passageway and parallel to said passageway with said arm swingable through an angle exceeding 90, and said opening in said pedestal being a U-shaped channel opening away from said pedestal in the same direction that said depression in said body portion of said tube holder opens whereby tubes with stoppers attached can be removed from said apparatus in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said passageway, and a U- shaped sleeve being removably mounted in said U- shaped channel and provided with a flange at one end thereof supported on said support seat whereby said sleeve may be removed to adapt said apparatus to use with larger size tubes.

2. Apparatus for inserting glass tubes into stoppers which comprises:

(A) a frame having a pedestal thereon,

(B) a tube holder having (1) a body portion and (2) an arm portion swingably mounted on said body portion (3) with said arm and body portions having corresponding depressions therein which, in one pivotal position of said arm portion, define an elongated tube gripping passageway in said tube holder,

(C) support and guide means including guide ways parallel to said passageway for supporting said body portion of said tube holder on said frame and guiding said body portion along a straight path toward said pedestal and parallel to said passageway,

(D) an opening in said pedestal along the axis of said passageway, and

(E) a support seat on said pedestal facing toward said tube holder for supporting a stopper on said pedestal with a hole in said stopper surrounding the axis of said passageway, in which said depressions in said body portion and arm portion are semi-cylindrical, and a semi-cylindrical sleeve is mounted in each of said depressions and provided with a rubber ribbed depression facing toward the other sleeve for gripping a tube therebetween in said one pivotal position of said arm.

3. Apparatus for inserting glass tubes into stoppers which comprises:

(A) a frame having a pedestal thereon,

4 (B) a tube holder having (1) a body portion and (2) an arm portion swingably mounted on said body portion (3) with said arm and body portions having corresponding depressions therein which, in one pivotal position of said arm portion, define an elongated tube gripping passageway in said tube holder,

(C) support and guide means including guide ways parallel to said passageway for supporting said body portion of said tube holder on said frame and guiding said body portion along a straight path toward said pedestal and parallel to said passageway,

(D) an opening in said pedestal along the axis of said passageway, and

(E) a support seat on said pedestal facing toward said tube holder for supporting a stopper on said pedestal with a hole in said stopper surrounding the axis of said passageway, characterized further by the inclusion of a transparent shield mounted on said arm and projecting therefrom toward said pedestal for protecting the user from flying glass when tubes with which the apparatus is used break.

4. Apparatus for inserting glass tubes into stoppers which comprises:

(A) a frame having a pedestal thereon,

(B) a tube holder having (1) a body portion and (2) an arm portion swingably mounted on said body portion (3) with said arm and body portions having corresponding depressions therein which, in one pivotal position of said arm portion, define an elongated tube gripping passageway in said tube holder,

(C) support and guide means including guide ways parallel to said passageway for supporting said body portion of said tube holder on said frame and guiding said body portion along a straight path toward said pedestal and parallel to said passageway,

(D) an opening in said pedestal along the axis of said passageway, and

(E) a support seat on said pedestal facing toward said tube holder for supporting a stopper on said pedestal with a hole in said stopper surrounding the axis of said passageway, characterized further in that said arm portion has a handle grip which projects to one side of said tube holder when said arm is in said one pivotal position, and a second handle grip is provided on said body portion projecting to the opposite side of said tube holder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 331,147 11/ 1885 Mallinckrodt 29-237 1,927,688 9/1933 McKee 29-237 2,510,878 6/1950 Fairbairn 29237 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

J. C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner: 

1. APPARATUS FOR INSERTING GLASS TUBES INTO STOPPERS WHICH COMPRISES: (A) A FRAME HAVING A PEDESTAL THEREON, (B) A TUBE HOLDER HAVING (1) A BODY PORTION AND (2) AN ARM PORTION SWINGABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BODY PORTION (3) WITH SAID ARM AND BODY PORTIONS HAVING CORRESPONDING DEPRESSIONS THEREIN WHICH, IN ONE PIVOTAL POSITION OF SAID ARM PORTION, DEFINE AN ELONGATED TUBE GRIPPING PASSAGEWAY IN SAID TUBE HOLDER (C) SUPPORT AND GUIDE MEANS INCLUDING GUIDE WAYS PARALLEL TO SAID PASSAGEWAY FOR SUPPORTING SAID BODY PORTION OF SAID TUBE HOLDER ON SAID FRAME AND GUIDING SAID BODY PORTION ALONG A STRAIGHT PATH TOWARD SAID PEDESTAL AND PARALLEL TO SAID PASSAGEWAY, (D) AN OPENING IN SAID PEDESTAL ALONG THE AXIS OF SAID PASSAGEWAY, AND (E) A SUPPORT SEAT ON SAID PEDESTAL FACING TOWARD SAID TUBE HOLDER FOR SUPPORTNG A STOPPER ON SAID PEDESTAL WITH A HOLD IN SAID STOPPER SURROUNDING THE AXIS OF SAID PASSAGEWAY, (F) SAID ARM PORTION OF SAID TUBE HOLDER BEING PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID BODY PORTION AT A PIVOT AXIS WHICH IS LATERALLY SPACED FROM SAID PASSAGEWAY AND PARALLEL TO SAID PASSAGEWAY WITH SAID ARM SWINGABLE THROUGH AN ANGLE EXCEEDING 90*, AND SAID OPENING IN SAID PEDESTAL BEING A U-SHAPED CHANNEL OPENING AWAY FROM SAID PEDESTAL IN THE SAME DIRECTION THAT SAID DEPRESSION IN SAID BODY PORTION OF SAID TUBE HOLDER OPENS WHEREBY TUBES WITH STOPPERS ATTACHED CAN BE REMOVED FROM SAID APPARATUS IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIS OF SAID PASSAGEWAY, AND A USHAPED SLEEVE BEING REMOVABLY MOUNTED IN SAID USHAPED CHANNEL AND PROVIDED WITH A FLANGE AT ONE END THEREOF SUPPORTED ON SAID SUPPORT SEAT WHEREBY SAID SLEEVE MAY BE REMOVED TO ADAPT SAID APPARATUS TO USE WITH LARGER SIZE TUBES. 